TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying variability of avian colours: are signalling traits more variable?
AU - Delhey, Kaspar
AU - Peters, Anne
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Increased variability in sexually selected ornaments, a key assumption of evolutionary theory, is thought to be maintained through condition-dependence. Condition-dependent handicap models of sexual selection predict that (a) sexually selected traits show amplified variability compared to equivalent non-sexually selected traits, and since males are usually the sexually selected sex, that (b) males are more variable than females, and (c) sexually dimorphic traits more variable than monomorphic ones. So far these predictions have only been tested for metric traits. Surprisingly, they have not been examined for bright coloration, one of the most prominent sexual traits. This omission stems from computational difficulties: different types of colours are quantified on different scales precluding the use of coefficients of variation.
AB - Increased variability in sexually selected ornaments, a key assumption of evolutionary theory, is thought to be maintained through condition-dependence. Condition-dependent handicap models of sexual selection predict that (a) sexually selected traits show amplified variability compared to equivalent non-sexually selected traits, and since males are usually the sexually selected sex, that (b) males are more variable than females, and (c) sexually dimorphic traits more variable than monomorphic ones. So far these predictions have only been tested for metric traits. Surprisingly, they have not been examined for bright coloration, one of the most prominent sexual traits. This omission stems from computational difficulties: different types of colours are quantified on different scales precluding the use of coefficients of variation.
UR - http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001689
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0001689
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0001689
M3 - Article
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 3
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 2
ER -